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With tech evolving every day, we're seeing big leaps forward in the tech we take for granted. For the most part, we tend to pick the best available item, regardless of brand. However, some of us may still have some preferences for specific items.

Do you consider yourself a brand loyalist for any of your tech? If so, why that brand?

For me, I've broken the habit of buying Sony headphones every single time I upgrade. When I was younger, Sony was the only name brand I could afford, so I just got used to using their equipment for pretty much anything related to music. I did use them pretty much exclusively for about 30 years though.

Splendid

I guess you could call it brand loyalty, but i see it more as it always works so why change.

Items i dont stray to far from

This computer build out has been used for about the last 11 years
CPU Intel, although AMD is starting to peek my interest
MB Asus ROG boards
GPU Nvidia EVGA
Ram was Mushkin but switched to G.Skill
PSU EVGA G2/G3
HDD Western digital
SSD was intel but switched to Samsung

Distinguished

Never, I always research exactly what the best specific product is using Reddit usually due to it having like-minded humans instead of someone being paid to write a review. I won't choose something expensive just based on liking the brand because I know I could simply be unaware of something I'd much prefer for the same price and I don't want to regret getting the worse version when I eventually discover the better one.

Champion

I do have brands I trust more and products they make I like. For example I like most of Corsairs products. Their memory served me great throughout the years before they made anything else and their top end PSUs are some of the if not the best around. Plus being an American company helps there.

I am willing to try others but a lot of my brand decisions came after working on PC repair long enough to get to really play with most of them and there are some I wont touch ever for personal use.

Sometimes I look at other brands though. I still use Logitech mice but some of Corsairs and even an Asus or two have piqued my interest.

Upstanding

I guess you could say I'm brand loyal to AMD CPUs, espescially recently with their 16 core Ryzens and massive 64 core Threadrippers.
Mostly though I just think they have a better product for a given pricepoint.

Titan

I do have my preferences.
Early on, radeon or nvidia made no difference for graphics.
Then, I had problems with drivers for amd and switched to nvidia.
I have stuck with nvidia mostly because I understand the drivers.
As a brand, I favor EVGA. They have a transferable warranty and good support in the US.

Over the years, I have used most major brand motherboards.
Currently using asus and asrock, but really no preference.

On the ssd front, I initially used intel and later samsung.
Both are reliable. They make their own parts and can control quality better.
Today, I am a samsung fan.
A big reason for this is their ssd migration software.
It is a windows C drive mover, not a clone.
That lets me upgrade to a different device or a larger one easily.
I can keep the previous device as a fallback backup.

I no longer use hard drives, but my preference was WD.

On ram, I have used g.skil, patriot,corsair, kingston... and really have no preference.

On processors, I have been using intel for a very long time.
In the past, I liked the higher IPC compared to AMD. Today, there is parity on that front.
I like the higher clock rates from Intel for better single thread performance.
I really do not think I can make effective use of many threads that ryzen now offers.

Over the years, I have gone from junk power supplies to better quality units. I used to like Antec and PC P&C.
Today, I like the seasonic units, particularly the focus units.
They are compact with good warranties.

Cases are a personal thing.
Early on, my first case was an aluminum Antec case followed by other Antec cases.
I built some small desktop units for friends and family using Lian-Li cases. Q02/Q07/Q08.
You can't beat the Lian li quality.
But, ultimately, it is the case design that I need.
I use a Silverstone TJ-08E because the depth of 15" fits the space available. I have used Silverstone for a few other builds.
As a company, I like Silverstone. They were responsive to a need for a missing part.

I use the microsoft ergonomic keyboard and have for some time.
I am so used to it that I have difficulty with a standard keyboard.

I use a APC ups and have done so for some time.
It just keeps running. I doubt I would change brands.

On laptops, I like Lenovo.
In particular, the thinkpad units.
The keyboards are very good and the Lenovo units are easy to upgrade.

On forum posts, it seems to me that many advocate what they have bought themselves.
In part, that makes sense if the experience was good.
But, I wonder if a lot of it is to justify their own decisions.

Distinguished

If I have a positive experience with a company from a customer service standpoint I have a very strong tendency to go back even if costs are higher.

I bought a case from Fractal Design quite a few years back. The Define R2 or R3. I loved the case; it was perfect. It lasted me through a number of upgrades and rebuilds.

One day I was moving into a new apartment and the movers broke one of the rear feet/legs off the back of the case. The case was physically okay but no longer stood up straight and wobbled with the broken leg.

I contacted Fractal and asked if they had any spare parts and if I could order a rear replacement leg. They immediately wrote me back and sent me a whole set of replacements. Two front, two rear. They just asked for my address and that was it. No shipping fees, nothing. Just good will.

After 7 years of using that case, I upgraded last December. Needless to say I now own another Fractal case. The Meshify C. If for any reason I end up building a PC for my living room or something it will be a Fractal. They last, the designs are solid and I can count on the customer service.

I gave away my old Define case to someone that needed it and it is still going strong.

Beyond cases, I've never had a bad experience with Asrock motherboards or ASUS/EVGA/Gigabyte GPUs, and have seriously regretted buying different brands based on price. Until recently I've had some really good experiences with Crucial SSDs, but I just had a brand new NVME drive die on me after only 4 months... I'm sure they'll replace it but it has definitely turned me off.

I keep buying Corsair's stuff despite two sets of ram failing on me on two different systems. Again, it comes down to customer service. Never had a problem RMAing and their teams are pretty responsive.

Prominent

With tech evolving every day, we're seeing big leaps forward in the tech we take for granted. For the most part, we tend to pick the best available item, regardless of brand. However, some of us may still have some preferences for specific items.

Do you consider yourself a brand loyalist for any of your tech? If so, why that brand?

For me, I've broken the habit of buying Sony headphones every single time I upgrade. When I was younger, Sony was the only name brand I could afford, so I just got used to using their equipment for pretty much anything related to music. I did use them pretty much exclusively for about 30 years though.

For processors, im an AMD fanboy because their Ryzen 3rd gen is very power efficient and very performance competitive in gaming, and obliterates Intel in the server market and content creation.

For motherboards, anything except for Asrock. Asrock seems like the company that cheaps out on their motherboards, idk why, I dont feel safe with an Asrock motherboard for some reason. They probably make some very good high end boards but its just my opinion. If I needed a server board, supermicro is the only thing hosting my components. HEDT, not Asrock but anything that supports bifurication.

For gaming chairs, Ewin and Autofull are my thrones. I have autofull but I hear Ewin is good also.

For UPS's, APC shall earn the right to protect my $2500 computer setup.

For phones, Samsung is AWESOME! Nothing else. Not Waowi, or any other Chinese brands. Nor apple either. I would use an apple device just to learn because I am an IT guy and I should know how to use one, but personally, Android/Samsung FTW.

Illustrious

I am a G.Skill loyalist.
I mainly mess with AMD systems which tend to like the Samsung dies typically used by G.Skill.
However, even for Intel systems like my I7 2600k system, I used G.skill ram.

For power supplies, I am a Corsair loyalist since they just seem to have the best budget units. The CX series is usually FAR better than the similarly priced units from other manufacturers. I have used SeaSonic, tons of EVGA, and Thermaltake before and never had any issues, but I just think Corsair has better value.

I love the Arctic brand for my coolers and fans. They seem to have great value coolers with superior performance for the price. For example, their new Liquid freezer ii 280mm aio beats pretty much all of the more expensive and louder 360mm units from other brands. It also includes a fan on the block which improves VRM temps slightly.

AMD GPUs I like Sapphire, however, I am not opposed to other brands.
I have used several MSI cards, mostly maxwell cards, however my RX5700 is a low-end MSI model. No issues that are MSIs fault there, so i would buy again but no opposed to others.

Prominent

I wouldn't say I'm an extreme brand loyalist, but I do show some of that on Motherboards. I normally am gonna go with ASRock boards for systems. Very rarely do I go with anything else. Looking at my most recently bought AM4 motherboards and 3/4 of them are ASRock.
If ASRock doesn't work, I'm fine with getting any other brand, but to be honest I usually stay away from Gigabyte.
Edit: I also stay away from PNY SSDs, just as another fun fact.

Champion

i don't consider myself loyal to any company, but i like most people like familiarity. so i might lean toward one brand simply due to knowing how it works already. getting into a new bios for a mobo can be a daunting task the first time. but if there's an option i already know and it's a good deal, then it may win for that reason.

with that said, i have owned tons of laptops over the years and i find myself going with hp over and over. i like the looks, quality and they've been good to me so far.

i do lean toward AMD though when they have a competitive product. i've been using AMD gpu's for years now. competition is a good thing and i will support the little guy if the value is there. but if AMD gets a big head and all of a suddent doubles the cpu prices, then i know how to pick an Intel chip as well

Splendid

I try to reward behaviors I like. So, AMD and Intel both have open source graphics stacks, embrace open standards like OpenCL, and contribute a lot to the Linux kernel.

Nvidia is notorious for anti-social behavior, like making its own proprietary APIs and requiring customers to use its proprietary driver stack. I also feel they've been overly exploitative, with GPU pricing.

So, when given a choice of two roughly comparable solutions that both meet my needs, I'll go for the company who's behavior I want to reward.

Also, with regard to CPUs, I'll admit to wanting Intel's hegemony broken, after so long. So, I'm a little bit biased in the direction of AMD CPUs. Intel doesn't help their case, by pulling stunts like demo'ing 28 cores @ 5.0 GHz and implying it's going to be released as a product, or failing to disclose the power consumption their CPUs use in gaming setups that. That's more of the anti-social behavior I want to discourage.

For PSUs, my go-to is Seasonic. I was reluctant, at first, but after seeing numerous deep reviews showing their premium models as consistently among the best, I barely even read PSU reviews anymore.

Finally, with SSDs, I value reliability over performance. So, my preferred brands are Intel, followed by Micron. It's a combination of reputation and features like end-to-end data protection. Samsung could win me over, if they'd do more to market their read-oriented enterprise SSDs to consumers, but they seem to guard information about them with almost cult-like secrecy. It doesn't help that Samsung products typically command a large price premium.

It took me a long time to come around to Lian Li. When I finally did, I felt silly for waiting so long. Anodized aluminum should be the first answer to everyone who complains about case temps. And the refinement of Lian Li's products is probably at least on par with anything else out there. Finally, there's the understated look that you don't mistake for a robot head or an alien spaceship.

Fortunately, by the time I got on board, I was only dropping a little over $100 per case. I gather before then & still with some of their higher end models, you can spend quite a lot.

Distinguished

I tend toward some preferences, but let reviews and performance/dollar make the judgments for me.

If I am straying into unknown territory, or parts where there doesn't seem to be a clear advantage of one brand over another, then I will probably rely on "Well, this brand worked for me in the past, I'll likely keep going with it."

It took me a long time to come around to Lian Li. When I finally did, I felt silly for waiting so long. Anodized aluminum should be the first answer to everyone who complains about case temps. And the refinement of Lian Li's products is probably at least on par with anything else out there. Finally, there's the understated look that you don't mistake for a robot head or an alien spaceship.

Fortunately, by the time I got on board, I was only dropping a little over $100 per case. I gather before then & still with some of their higher end models, you can spend quite a lot.

Distinguished

I've been in the business for over 20 years and can speak to the fact that when it comes to computers brands don't really mean that much anymore. An AMD 5700xt from Asus or Gigabytes will be pretty much the same. What I've found are that certain companies make a more reliable product and their RMA process/customer service is better. If a certain brand of motherboard has the better website with up to date drivers and their website is rarely down that is a good thing.

I think so far people pretty much hit the nail on the head. EVGA has great customer support. Seasonic are very good and readily available power supplies. When it comes to Intel vs AMD CPUs it's whoever has the best performance per dollar since both are reliable. For monitors I like BenQ and have had bad experiences with Acer and LG. But overall it's value and availability that wins most of the time. A good EVGA power supply is a good buy if it's on sale for half the price of a good Seasonic, even if your a Seasonic fanboy.

I don't think there is 1 particular component where I can absolutely say you need to buy from one particular manufacturer and that 1 brand rules them all. 20 years ago I would have listed the particular brand of each product you had to buy. Abit motherboard, Hitachi hard drive, NEC monitor, antec power supply and case, Zalman Ram and flower heatink, etc... Now it's irrelevant.

They are better than most manufacturers at providing windowless options. Definitely check and see if one exists for the models you like.

I should note that the LIAN LI PC-Q08B aluminum mini-ITX case I bought from them is probably my least favorite. It's a little bit spartan, and the back wall of the cases flexes more under the weight of the PSU than I'd ideally like. Still, it's not bad, and I certainly don't regret using it. Also, as that was over 5 years ago, it might not say much about their current models. Just a couple things to keep in mind.

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